Smyth victorious, Sadiq shines in Walter Hayes Trophy heat four

Photo: Ida Wood

Jason Smyth was mostly alone up front in the fourth Walter Hayes Trophy heat, as Formula Ford debutant Haarni Sadiq made a splash by finishing second.

A strong start by Sadiq on the front row put him alongside poleman Smyth, who he passed into the opening corner.

Smyth was back in front before Maggotts, with Joey Foster making two passes before then too. Julian Van der Watt and Ian Campbell battled behind him, racing wheel-to-wheel for almost a whole lap.

Van Der Watt fell into the clutches of Sadiq’s Ammonite Motorsport team-mate Jase Petty later in lap two, and he got alongside him through Copse on lap three.

Gaps opened up following that, and yellow flags at Brooklands also reduced passing opportunities.

Foster got into Sadiq’s tow as lap five of eight began, and ventured to the inside down the pit straight and into Maggotts. He slipstreamed again next time by and looked to the outside at Copse and the inside at the next corner.

The pair were close at Copse again on the penultimate lap, and this time Foster had the tow down the Wellington Straight. He had a nose ahead into Brooklands but was on the outside so turned in behind Sadiq.

They were side-by-side down the pit straight, but Foster again had to concede as they went into Copse for a final time, and now Van der Watt and Petty were on his tail. A bolder attempt at Maggotts was made, then Foster was immediately alongside the defending Sadiq heading onto the next straight.

Van der Watt was boxed in, but then utilised a twin slipstream to slide to the outside of the pair at Brooklands. Sadiq stayed ahead, but Foster lost out until Woodcote where he went around the outside of the Van der Watt to make the podium. The trio were split by 0.241 seconds, while Smyth was 7.043s up the road. The winner also looked after his tyres well enough to consider using them for Sunday’s semi-finals.

“I got a good start. I was kind of sad when Jason got the switchback on me. I thought I could have the lead a little bit longer there, but I knew it was going to come,” said Sadiq afterwards.

“I had a really good time; me and Joey were going at it the whole race. At some points I thought I was finished, especially when I lost the tow to Jason, but I had a really good time.”

He added he was surprised “how close [FF1600 cars] can race, and how much the slipstream does”.

Foster reflected that “the way we set up the car, [the pace] was coming on a bit late”. Although he “knew it would get better as the race went on”, he then found that “Haarni was defending really well, I couldn’t find a way by”.

Campbell was competitive until retiring on lap six, and GT Motorsport’s Jack van der Ende made two passes to steal seventh at the very end.

Heat 4 results (8 laps)